2-year sentence in E.C. vote fraud

VOTE FRAUD: Larry Battle first convicted in election fraud to get prison time

CROWN POINT | Lake Criminal Court Judge Salvador Vasquez has
sentenced a man who failed to show up in court to two years in
prison.

Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter and Lake County Prosecutor
Bernard Carter listened as Vasquez sentenced an absent Larry
Battle, 52, for vote fraud he perpetrated in the 2003 East Chicago
primary election.

Defense attorney Willie Harris couldn't explain his client's
absence, except to suggest it may have something to do with
Battle's heart problems.

Harris asked Vasquez to show mercy.

He said Battle wouldn't last two days in prison. The stress of
this case and his heart condition is killing him, Harris said.

Besides, everybody was voting in different precincts, paying
others to vote absentee and the like, he said.

"I'm not saying it was right," Harris said. "Yes, it hurt
voters. Yes, someone else may have won. But it wasn't killing or
stealing. It wasn't what we in society are really concerned about.
And who put this whole thing together? We haven't seen one of them
in court."

Deputy Prosecutor Angela Brown pointed out that Battle had a
criminal history of "crimes of dishonesty."

"This was a theft of an election. Legitimate votes were taken
from voters," she said.

The Indiana Supreme Court ordered the election redone and as a
result, the incumbent, long-term East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick
lost to George Pabey.

Brown said the voting shenanigans were not only an expense but
an embarrassment.

"The community needs to be assured this won't be tolerated in
East Chicago or Lake County," she said.

Battle is the seventh person to be convicted for election fraud
in Lake County Criminal Court stemming from an investigation of
fraudulent activity during the 2003 East Chicago primary, the
attorney general said.

Several police officers are among the 38 others awaiting trial
for the same crimes.

Battle, however, is the first to do prison time. Others were
given suspended sentences and are on probation.

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